Health Blogs

White Chicken Chili

This recipe started out as a “Last Minute Dinner,” but it took me forever to make it, so I had to make a quesadilla. It was fabulous though, and I enjoyed it for many lunches and dinners in the following days.

Of course, the recipe was created from a hodge-podge of ingredients. I had half of a green pepper, on-the-verge-of-too-old green onions, and half a white onion on hand that I needed to use up. I decided to wing it making some chili. I raided my cupboards for the rest of the ingredients, so feel free to substitute and experiment as you make this recipe.

White Chicken Chili

1-1/2 cups dried great northern beans

2 chicken breasts

1 tablespoon olive oil

Half a green pepper (please don’t cut one in half to make this soup, just use the whole thing)

4-5 green onions

Half white onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz.)

1 can chopped green chilis

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Extra water or chicken broth, as needed

I decided to make this recipe while I was at work so I didn’t soak the beans overnight. I looked up some different methods on how to cook them quickly, and this is what I ended up doing:

Put washed beans in dutch oven and cover with a few inches of water

Bring beans to a boil

Cover, remove from heat, and let sit for 1 hour

Drain water then refill with clean water

Simmer beans until desired tenderness is reached (I think I simmered for around 50 minutes)

Drain and set aside for chili

Do you see why this recipe took me forever? I should have thought ahead and cooked the beans in the crock-pot during the day so they’d be ready for the chili by dinner. BUT that would require me to plan…

Meanwhile…

Toss the chicken breasts in a sauce pan, cover with water, and boil until fully cooked. Reserve the cooking water. Chop chicken into bite size pieces and set aside.

Chop the green pepper, onions, and garlic.

Heat olive oil in large pot then saute onions and garlic until lightly browned and softened.

Add the green pepper and cook a few minutes just to start the cooking process. Don’t wait until the green pepper is soft before moving on.

Add all of the remaining ingredients: tomatoes and chilis,

Spices,

and reserved chicken broth. If the chili is looking low on liquid, throw in some extra water or chicken broth. I had a carton of chicken broth in the fridge from who knows when, so I tossed that in. Don’t judge. You know you have some in your fridge too.

Taste and add salt or pepper as needed.

Stir and let simmer for one hour.

I think if I had waited to eat until this chili was done, I’d have eaten at midnight. 🙂